“We’re going to have a hard time here during the next few weeks,” he said in a tone that showed the girl his anger had subsided, “and I simply can’t let things be worse than they’ve got to be. So perhaps the best thing you can do is to take a vacation before you go for good. You can tell the children you are coming back, you know. Oh!” he exclaimed, despairingly, “that won’t do at all.” Miss Munroe, with the air of keeping an advantage, stood in silence. “I knew that Mrs. Briggs would have worried about that--about your telling the children,” Briggs went on helplessly. “She worries about a great many things,” Miss Munroe remarked with quiet significance. “But, for my sake, Miss Munroe,” Briggs resumed, plainly without having heard her comment, “if you could take a little vacation soon! That’ll be the best for all of us. I know how hard it must be for you, and it will be hard for the children. But, now that the break is to take place, the sooner the better. I’ll pay you a month ahead, as I know Mrs. Briggs will do anything she can for you.” “Oh, I won’t have any bother about getting another place,” Miss Munroe said cheerfully. “And I’ll be glad to do everything that will make things easier for you, sir. I know what a hard time you’ve been having and, of course, I’ve been with Mrs. Briggs so much, I understand _her_ pretty well.” Briggs stood in silence. He felt as if he had been wounded in some very sensitive place. What did this girl mean? Was she trying to express sympathy for him and at the same time stabbing at Helen? While living with them in the intimacy of the family life, had she been spying on them and gossiping about them with the servants? “I’ll speak to Mrs. Briggs to-day, and she’ll let you know when she wants you to leave,” he said mechanically, and he walked out of the room. During the rest of the day Briggs suffered from a dull anger, directed not against the governess, however, but against his wife. If Helen had only not interfered with his affairs, he assured himself, he would have worked out of his troubles. Her interference had upset everything, even the details of the domestic economy. He quickly forgot his resentment against Miss Munroe; after all, it was natural that the poor girl should resent being turned away from the family that she had served so faithfully. She had her little pride, too, in not being a mere servant; and that pride had probably been wounded. She was so necessary that he hoped Helen would change her mind about letting her go. He liked the idea of giving the girl a vacation; after missing her services for a few weeks, Helen might be glad to take her back. He meant to speak of the idea to his wife; but in the distraction of his work he forgot it. After a few days, on observing that Miss Munroe still remained in the house, he assumed that she was to stay on indefinitely. XIV